So my power finally came on today and I found my last living orchid had three big white scale bugs on it. I rubbed them off, what else should I do to ensure there will be no more? I'm removing it from the terrarium. It isn't drying out well enough so I'm going to place it in my grow out tank. Normally I would soak a plant in water with a weak bleach solution for 20 minutes. This is how I treat all new cuttings and broms I get and they survive just fine. They still have scale before and after so I'm not convinced water and bleach soaking will kill scale.
Get it out of the viv, for sure. Unfortunately you may already have scale in the viv as well as on the orchid, so when you put it back... Time will tell.
For just one plant, I scrub off any adult scale I can find, and spray the plant really well with rubbing alcohol. Full strength from the bottle you buy at the drug store. 99 cents maybe. You need to spray your plant once a week for three or four weeks to be sure you got them all. Some pests can hide in the roots, so now is a good time to repot, as well.
removal of any thing form plants is easy, if the plant is in a pot. Soak it in 10% bleach/water solution for a couple second remove, and rinse very well. Or you can use oraganic pesticides like neem I think it is called.
mealybugs are softbodied with a white, almost powdery covering. Although it is a scale insect, most other scales have a hard covering. For both, remove the plants and was with soapy water . A good practice is to quarantine them for a few weeks before you would place them back in the viv, washing them about 1-2 times a week. Should do the trick unless they have infested your viv heavily.
I use something called neem on my orchids. I spray the leaves, roots and substrate with it. I mix 2 Tbl. to 1 gallon of water. it has been pet safe around my dogs and kids - nobody has gotten sick. Not sure around frogs though.... Just my simple two cents.. I have an orchid addiction and now adding a frog addiction too!
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